Everything you need to know about Mary Poppins Returns

It's been 53 years since the original Mary Poppins descended onto screens via umbrella. Now in 2018 she'll be back to visit the grown-up Banks children in a Disney musical reboot which should put a skip in your step.

The movie is a way off so there's still a lot we don't know. We'll update the article any time news, images and footage arrives so bookmark us now, and pop back for all the latest and everything you need to know about Mary Poppins Returns.

As the footage began, we saw Jack the Lamplighter (Lin-Manuel Miranda) helping Michael's son fly a kite. They start pulling harder, and off in the distance Mary is floating down from the sky with her umbrella.

The brief teaser shown at D23 also had a Lamplighter dance number, and Dick Van Dyke, playing a bank chairman, dancing on a desk.

It ended with Michael (Ben Whishaw) and Jane (Emily Mortimer) reminiscing about their childhood.

"Those things when we were younger, they didn't really happen?" Jane says.

"No," Michael replied.

"Ridiculous," Jane says... while behind them, Mary is floating up the banister.

Mary Poppins Returns new images: The Light Fantastic

EW has revealed several shots from the movie which give us our first really good look at Emily Blunt's practically perfect nanny.

In this shot, she can be seen holding hands with the new Banks children – Annabel (Pixie Davies), Georgie (Joel Dawson) and John (Nathanael Saleh) – and Jack the lamplighter (played by Lin-Manuel Miranda) for the big musical number, 'Trip a Little Light Fantastic'.

Mary Poppins Returns release date: a Christmas treat

The movie is planned for a Christmas Day cinema release in 2018, which is quite a way off. The movie is currently filming and began in February – a few pictures have popped up from the set – which gives Disney plenty of time to complete.

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Photo credit: PA Images

Christmas Day seems likes like a great time for what promises to be a fun family musical – plus, right now it's not up against much else particularly. Disney's Marvel movies tend to come in the summer and autumn, and Han Solo's Star Wars spin-off will be released in May of 2018.

Mary Poppins Returns cast: a couple of Emilys plus a Meryl

The long-awaited sequel has rounded up a pretty impressive cast. Stepping into the massive shoes of the magical nanny herself is Emily Blunt. And fortunately, original Mary Poppins Julie Andrews is totally on board with that.

We know she can sing after Into the Woods. Whether she'll be called on to cavort with a chimney sweep remains to be seen, but we're confident she'll manage.

And the grown-up Jane and Michael Banks are played by Emily Mortimer and Ben Whishaw.

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Photo credit: Disney / FameFlynet

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Photo credit: Disney / FameFlynet

Meryl Streep will be appearing as Mary's cousin Topsy, while Hamilton's Lin-Manuel Miranda will play a lamplighter called Jack, who will probably be a friend of Poppins modelled on Dick Van Dyke's Chimney sweep Burt. Van Dyke himself will be back too.

He's listed as playing Mr Dawes Jr – presumably the son of one of the characters he played in the original. Not the jaunty chimney sweep, but the director of the bank where Mr Banks works.

Mary Poppins Returns plot: she's baaaaaack

The original Mary Poppins was set in 1910. The sequel takes the action forward to 1935 where Michael and Jane Banks, the children she once looked after and treated to kites and spoonsful of sugar, are now adults with kids of their own.

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Mary returns after Michael suffers a personal loss which has left him and his family sad – they seriously an injection of joy, and Poppins is the person to help bring that back.

It's based on a screenplay written by David McGee who penned the script for Life of Pi. We know it's going to include lots of musical numbers, and some knees-up knees-up action a la 'Step In Time'.

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Photo credit: PA Images

Mary Poppins Returns director: He's the musical man

In the director's chair is Rob Marshall, who has plenty of experience with musicals. He made Chicago which earned him a best director Oscar nod (not bad at all given this was his debut feature), as well as Nine, starring Daniel Day Lewis and Nicole Kidman.

He's also the man behind Into the Woods, which he made for Disney and stars Poppins 2.0 Emily Blunt.

Mary Poppins Returns trailer:

The movie is still shooting, so we're too early for a trailer right now. Could we possibly get a sneaky peak at Disney's D23 event in July 2017? Anything can happen if you let it...